To ask what you think about 'Grid Girls' no longer being used?

[Sallystyle]

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/42890261

I think it is a great thing.

Some people on my FB clearly don't.

LastOneDancing Perfectly put. That's what I've been trying to get across and failing on a current FB discussion. Mind if I borrow your wording?

A lot of women loved to be objectified. It's an uncomfortable truth. Grid Girls are the thin end of the wedge.

I hope that dosnt mean they are going to ban male models baring torsos on perfume ads!!

I’m thrilled. I hate my daughters seeing this sort of thing and feeling that their role as women is adornment or superficial and my sons to view women as.....well, adornment and superficial. It’s an embarrassment.

I hope that dosnt mean they are going to ban male models baring torsos on perfume ads!!

No, because perfume ads aren't part of a sporting event

BUT. I am bored of reading that the women involved are exploited and how dreadful it is that some people are just judged on their looks. I was born very clever. That’s just as much good luck as one of my friends who was born to be staggeringly beautiful (very unfairly she is also clever dammit). She has worked easily as hard to maximise those benefits as I have my brain. I find it enormously insulting that being an attractive woman is somehow a second choice and in any way using those looks (for work as a model) is somehow less of an achievement than me getting academic qualifications.

You are somewhat missing the point here. The problem isn't with 'attractive people' per se. It's with the message that men get to do the important stuff while women stand there passively decorating the important stuff.

In sport there is absolutely no need for 'grid girls' or 'podium girls' like they have in cycling. They serve no purpose other than for men to look at. And it's such a disturbingly passive role, it's dehumanising, a fairly primitive robot could do it. And it all happens whilst the men are lauded as heroes for using their brains, their skills, their bodies for an actual purpose.

Its different to modelling where you need someone to show off the clothes, or perfume ads where the people are acting and fulfilling the role of the person you will be if you buy the perfume (arf!).

thenightsky of course!
But with 'wankers' not 'wanders' yeah?!

Quite simply if these women are so desperate have the ‘choice’ to work in formula one they ought to do what anyone else would have to do and learn something about cars or broadcasting or engineering

Imagine a complete reversal... Young beautiful men in tiny pants with silicon injected cocks bulging out, strutting about and fawning over women prize winners, on TV, at sporting events, in magazines...

How many average looking blokes could handle this? What would be tell our sons when they ask, am I big enough?

If men were objectified to this extent, cases of mental illness, anorexia and self harm would absolutely rocket amongst young men. They can't handle it, that's why it doesn't happen. Yet our girls are expected to put up with this shit!!!

Grid Women, your place is in the adult entertainment industry. No soft porn in sports please, keep it on the top shelf where real little girls can't see it.

Thebluedog 09.56, posted a public statement from one of the girls. Grid girl said "will swimwear models be banned because what they are wearing in catalogues is too revealing?" Yet swimwear models are showing the swimsuits, what is grid girl showing? That she can hold an umbrella? Lean on a car?

It gave the Sun the opportunity to have grid girls adorning a male F1 driver on its front page and to use the word 'snowflakes'.

Open it up and Page 3 still has a model on.

Grid lady again "We work hard to build up a good reputation". Work hard at what? Reputation of what? Standing on a podium? smiling? holding brollies? What?

Thanks for your reply NeedsAsock Just one more question (if you don't mind) how did you and the other girls feel if/when you were turned down for the job of erm....having a big smile? Seriously though, does it badly affect some girls confidence, etc?

Oh yes kala, I forgot to put that on my list of duties "adorning" male drivers. Maybe that's the reputation that grid lady is working hard for?

I can’t speak for anybody else only for myself, it never bothered me. Different people like different looks and the reality is nobody is telling you that your anything negative by not booking you (unless they are just a git anyway but then they would be under most circumstances and you can discount the opinions of gits) they are just saying that you don’t fit the look they are interested in that year/month/week.

Also I don’t know how they do it these days but when I did if you got as far as a face to face unless you shat on the bookers desk or tried to shag them or couldn’t walk into the room without blushing falling over and losing the ability to talk then it was pretty much a slam dunk anyway. Nobody likes having their time wasted so selection from larger numbers was done via portfolios and agents. The only time I ever saw people turned away was when they turned up pissed or high or behaved dramatically

Sex sells. And sadly that means women (for the large part) and some men (for the small part) will always be used to influence sales of products, or media etc.

It doesn't have to be overly sexual, but the media is littered with attractive young people in disproportionate numbers to the general population. The psychology behind it all is complex and varied, but it doesn't stop at F1 grid girls. It's goes through to game show hostesses, advertising, music, public relations, sales...

We are simply inundated with the suggestion that beauty = success.

and despite your reluctance to imagine they do anything more that just smile, would you be quite so dismissive of the work involved within a mix of hospitality and product promotion often for hours and hours at a time amongst huge crowds of people if it wasn’t done by attractive women?

It's perfectly possible for someone to exploit their own assets (good looks, youth, intelligence etc) AND be exploited by others at the same time.

You can exploit a skill in sewing, but still be exploited by those producing cheap clothing in order to increase huge profits for themselves. This is how a good looking woman and be proud that she's able to work hard based on her looks and hosting ability, but still be being 'used' to attract gullible males to buy goods, or sell the idea of glamour to sport.

Bernie Ecclestone suggested the grid girls promoted the image of glamour and luxury - but why? why must we associate glamour with looks, or luxury with looks. It's not the sole domain of the young and beautiful. Bernie himself is neither, but enjoys the trappings of both.

and despite your reluctance to imagine they do anything more that just smile, would you be quite so dismissive of the work involved within a mix of hospitality and product promotion often for hours and hours at a time amongst huge crowds of people if it wasn’t done by attractive women

Can you explain WHY is needs to be done by attractive women?

Why can't this work be done by anyone who is good at holding an umbrella, holding a number and is good at communicating?

needsasockamnesty

Can you see any issue with these women who do a similar job but at tech shows?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/technology-16533289/booth-babes-stir-controversy-at-2012-ces

They also do a fair bit of waitressing,leafleting, data capture, product promotion.some sporting events use them to manage crowd movement to a degree.some will have signings and question and answer sessions.

Nothing needs to be done by attractive women but aren’t most women attractive to some people? I would be hard pushed to find a unattractive women within my circle of contacts/friends/colleagues unless you count my sister but I may be biased because I just don’t like her.

I can’t watch that clip because I’m in bed and don’t want to wake anybody up. Will do so in the morning.

I guess it would depend on what they are being asked to do but assuming it’s all decent behaviour without thinking about it to much no I don’t. I do not have an issue with women or men being used in advertising

The way I see it this decision by the F1 company has nothing to do with a change in ethos and realising women are equal or anything to do with valuing women.

This decision is the patriarchy protecting itself from further lawsuits.

This is the tip of the iceberg all hostess jobs will soon be a thing of the past. Like it or lump it!

Feminists have nothing to do with their decisions. So please can we stop squabbling amongst ourselves. It's just the men can't get away with it anymore.

I'd rather they made it mixed race. This is the tip of the iceberg in terms of the roles in promotions.

There was a guy and girl in their underwear at the airport last summer promoting perfume. I thought that was inappropriate during the day time with lots of children around.

They needed to modernise by actually modernising rather than just removing. Could have been an opportunity to promote stem jobs or interesting things from the local culture rather than just t&t.

I had a row, I mean discussion with a colleague about this yesterday.

He is furious. Apparently not a letchy old man, it's more that it's tradition apparently. It's the build up, makes the sport glamourous, it's like a show! Who knew.
He also stated " who will be there to applaud the drivers" hahahaha.
Oh and it's too much in way of meddling to keep the feminists happy apparently and just how far will equality go. Will they have women drivers next racing along side the men?!

I told him what I thought in the most eloquent way I could.

I genuinely don't get what they add to the sport. It's cringeworthy. Weird, robotic smiles- applauding the god like men who can drive a fast car. Holding umberallas over the precious men gods and being sprayed in the face with champagne at the end.

Why they would want to do that I will never understand tbh.

Show more of the engineering team, fans and pundits.

Boxing and the delightful Eddie Hearn have stated they won't be getting rid of the ring girls as they actually have a job to do.
As obviously all these superior men would forget which round they're watching if it wasn't for them.
This pleased my colleague greatly so today for my shift I have written "good afternoon " on paper and I am going to walk to and fro in front of his desk with a fake smile plastered on my face